Offaly v Wexford NFL 11/03/2012

[Bord na Mona man]

According to Midlands 103 sport, Gerry Cooney is considering his position.

If that is true and the source is Gerry Cooney himself, then I can't see him staying.

[Room with a view]

If it's true that Gerry Cooney is thinking of stepping down,then it implies that he recognizes that the task of making Offaly a competitive outfit is beyond him and his backroom team.That's an honest and brave acceptance of what seems obvious to most supporters though probably not the Co Board/selection committee ,who tend to be in denial when it comes to such matters.They don't like to admit to being inept where management selection is concerned, though a brief scan of the managers we have had in the last 5 or 6 years tells us differently.Nothing personal against any of them but Pat Roe ,Richie Connor ,and last years incumbent,Tom Cribbin lacked any kind of even moderately impressive management track record of inter county achievement or success.You might imagine that the selection committee would seek such candidates or even ones that have impressive club management creditentials ,but no , in their wisdom they seek guys that are 'have a go heroes' who just want to have a shot at inter county management with some obscure team where results don't really matter,it's only Offaly so why get upset if we don't win many games.It seems the powers that be in Offaly have 'thrown their hat at it' and are resigned to failure so are happy to give the job to any journeyman manager because his face fits or to just fill the post. Amazingly when a decent manager like Stephen Darby, that might just have brought some knowhow to the job, comes along they humiliate him and discard him.Thats not to say that we have very many top class players,they are scarce enough ,but we have enough to compete in the third division and win 4 to 5 games and at least be pressing for promotion.At this juncture I could not see Darby or any of the guys that were first mooted for the job ,stepping in, should Cooney go.So to the co board "another fine mess you'v got us in "!

[blue74]

What good would Cooney going now do? surely you cant make a silk purse out of a sows ear? offaly are a long way behind nearly every other team in leinster these days. people hark back to the 97 days of Tommy Lyons but the team then was a lot different. who in their right mind would take on the offaly management challenge if Cooney does go knowing the County Board committee of 7 wise men are going to make a balls of the selection process anyways and not give you the job?

[jimbob17]

heard the rumblings on the midlands radio yesterday evening. while i dont think it is necessarily the best thing, I just wonder what his reasoning for considering his position is;

Is it (a) that he feels that he is out of his depth in the job and has lost the dressing room or
(b) that he feels that the players (bar a few) are a crowd of uncommitted wasters that hitler would find hard to handle.

The sad state of affairs for the senior football today is a direct resut of mismanagement at lower levels over the last ten years. No player has experienced a decent professional set up at minor (bar 3 or 4 years) or 21 for the past ten years or so. they have al come through a bad structure and somewhere there along, respect has been lost for the jersey. Senior jerseys were handed out willy nilly to numerous players in the last few years who didnt have to work for it and it has become belittled as a result with the latest performances the results. while there is no doubt that Cooney and his team could possibly have managed things better, direction comes from the top and I would think that Cooney thought he was coming into a much better situation than he did with players in much better shape than he got them.

The county board always go for the cheap option with everything. A good team always needs qualified backroom people to match the professionalism of the other counties. The manager is just a facilitator. If a team is not fit enough, it always goes back to who is involved in the backroom and in this respect, id love to know what has been going on in relation to fitness and strength and conditioning work at senior and 21 level over the past few years as we have been continuously off the pace of very average teams, that includes Limerick last year who are a div 4 team. We would seriously struggle to beat anyone in Div 4 at the moment bar kilkenny and that is a fact.

The squad lack leadership from the players on the field as many are just too inexperienced, but more importantly leadership is non existent off the field in relation to the way they live their lives. There are plenty of club footballers in the county more committed to their game than the county players in terms of diet, hydration etc and more specifically alcohol consumption in a county with a very strong drinking culture around the GAA. many are just jumped up corner boys who are more interested in pulling a bird on a saturday night than going out and representing a proud footbaling county with pride. Many consider themselves a "county player" without living the life and doing the things that makes one a county player in the first place. They all play the blame game looking over their shoulder to blame one thing or another for a loss and dont take personal responsibility for something only the players can affect between the white lines.

It isnt that ong ago since offaly were regularly winning leinsters and competing for all irelands. The game has moved on however and the county board need to move with the times now. On a more positive note the 21 s are giving a little hope, though when it comes to senior level, a lot of these will be found wanting as they are simply not big or strong enough down the middle to compete despite being very good footballers with good organisation.this can only be rectified with proper support structures backed by the county board!!!! Dont think it will happen anytime soon though as the dinosaurs are still in control!!

[True Red]

22 scores to 7 is deeply depressing especially as posters above pointed out that Offaly were trying to play a defensive game



A trouble-free day for Wexford

DIVISION THREE Wexford 1-21 Offaly 2-5: WEXFORD enjoyed a comfortable afternoon as they strolled to a very easy win over Offaly in Tullamore yesterday, to stay firmly in the chase for promotion.

The better team throughout the field, Wexford played some incisive attacking football but they will be taking into account the very meagre resistance from Offaly when they reflect on their afternoon’s work.

After a tentative opening spell, Wexford soon hit top gear and were ahead by 0-8 to 0-1 after 27 minutes and went in at the interval leading by 0-10 to 0-3.

A quick Ken Casey goal gave Offaly hope, but it was only a brief respite. Wexford pulled away again with Adrian Flynn and PJ Banville inflicting most damage as they went into a 0-16 to 1-3 lead.

Bernard Allen got a well-taken consolation goal for Offaly but again it was only a temporary reprieve as Wexford stepped on the gas again and they put a gloss on their afternoon with an injury -time goal from Shane Roche.

WEXFORD : T Hughes; R Tierney, G Molloy, B Malone; A Flynn (0-2), D Murphy, A Doyle (0-1); A Shore, D Waters; R Barry (0-1), C Morris, B Brosnan (0-5, four frees); C Lyng (0-4, frees), S Roche (1-2), PJ Banville (0-5). Subs : C Carty for Murphy (50 mins), L Shin for Morris (50), R Quinlivan for Shore (59 mins), P Kelly for Lyng (59 mins), M O’Leary (0-1) for Banville (62 mins).

OFFALY : A Mulhall; J Gallagher, J Moloney, P Boland; L Hiney, P McConway, D Kelly; N Smith, B Connor (0-2); J Keane, A McNamee, N Dunne (0-3, three frees); A Sullivan, W Mulhall, K Casey (1-0). Subs : N McNamee for Hiney (ht), B Allen (1-0) for Sullivan (ht), K Lynam for McConway (38), G Treacy for W Mulhall (59 mins).

Referee: P Hughes (Armagh).

From the Irish Times